


Curiouser and Curiouser

by harmony88



Series: Forever With You: Part 2 [15]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Alice in Wonderland References, BAMF Rose Tyler, Babies, Drama, F/M, Guilt, Humor, It's not actually wonderland it's a planet and its fun :D, Light Angst, Romance, Sex, episodic, problem solving, stuff of legends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:49:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29643273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harmony88/pseuds/harmony88
Summary: COMPLETEThe Doctor and Rose find out the sex of their baby and when the Doctor accidentally lands in England in 1862 and they meet Lewis Carroll, an entirely strange and unexpected adventure occurs.“I can just go in, find out myself,” the Doctor said, and the man shook his head.“It’s my secret,” he said, and suddenly, the tone of the room began to shift and the Doctor pulled his arm back, locking eyes with Rose. “Please.”“What is your name?” Rose asked, and the man just looked at her.“Lewis Carroll,” he murmured, and Rose’s eyes widened. The Doctor’s face broke out into a grin. “You can’t go in there.”“Wonderland?” the Doctor said, bouncing up and down. “Oh, that’s... Rose!!”
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: Forever With You: Part 2 [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2111892
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47





	1. Broken Clocks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More than any story I feel like I've written, this is the most "crossover." The rest of the series won't be like this, it was just a fun writing exercise for me and a fun way for me to move the plot along. A little out of my comfort zone, though, so hopefully it works. Thanks for reading!

He awoke from a nightmare with a start, and he felt his hearts racing in his chest. Rose was asleep, trying to rest her muscles that were growing more sore with each day, and he looked at her for a moment, the peace on her face giving him some sense of comfort. 

He had been in a glass chamber, sobbing on the floor, unsure of why he was in so much pain. He could only remember flashes of the dream, but he could still feel the echo of heat as it had coursed through his body, a trick of the mind he knew, and he physically had to shake it off. 

It didn’t take a genius to tell him that he was spiraling. 

Idiot. 

He sighed and took a deep breath, deciding to try and distract himself from wandering thoughts. It had been a couple of weeks since they met his parents, and after a few small trips with Martha and Donna they were once again alone in the Vortex, and he, unsurprisingly he supposed, had found himself teetering. Some moments he was fine, and others it was hard to accept that whatever this is might not all get solved before Rose gives birth. 

He wanted their child safe. 

He made his way to the library, running his hand along the wall of the TARDIS when he saw she already had a fire going for him and he sniffed, moving to his desk and doing the first thing he could think of, pulling his broken childhood clock from the drawer. 

His hands traced over it for a moment and he swallowed, taking a deep breath. He walked to a closet and pulled out a box of timepieces he’d collected over the years, moving to sit in front of the fire, trying to see if he could fix it. 

It wasn’t a simple task. Some of the gears had broken entirely when they battled the Master and Rassilon. Some were missing, likely still on the floor of Ridgemont Entities, and he was picking up random bits of metal, seeing what might fit, but his mind still wanted to wander, and he decided to let it. 

He didn’t have the strength tonight. 

He was in a tug of war with himself, the nightmare stirring up feelings he had been trying to deny for the past week, reiterating his suspicions that some choice he had made altered the timelines. That if this does become something they have to deal with when their child is in their arms, that it will be his fault. 

That thought _terrified_ him. 

His father had thrown a pebble in the water. A ripple in the timeline he had to wait to see. 

_Not till the clock is properly wound._

He closed his eyes, his father’s voice ringing his ear, and he repeated every word he had said to them in that graveyard for the thousandth time, trying to find comfort in it. He flipped a gear over from the box and tossed it to the side, clenching his jaw a bit as the fire flickered on his cheeks. 

“Woke me up, the hum in my head,” she said, and he looked over, her presence calming him just a touch. 

“I’m okay,” he muttered, holding the clock up. She crossed to the fire and sat down across from him, kissing his head as she did. 

“What are you doing?” she asked. He just shrugged. 

“I was...trying to fix it. It’s fine, I’ll figure it out,” he murmured. “How are you feeling?” 

“We’re alright,” she said, rubbing her stomach. He smiled and moved to sit closer to her, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. “Feet are sore, a bit.”

“Yeah?” he asked, and she just looked up at him with her tongue doing its thing, and he kissed her. “Lean against the wall.” 

She did, watching him as he began to massage the middle of her foot first, looking at it intently, and she bit her lip, finding him entirely captivating in his sweatshirt, messy hair, and glasses. 

“What were you thinking so hard about?” she whispered, brushing her hand along the slight stubble on his cheek and he glanced up. 

“Just...” he said, and she just leaned her head against the wall, letting the warmth from the fire filter around them. “Everything. I’m trying to let go, Rose. I am.” 

“Me too,” she said softly, and he let out a long breath, switching to her other foot. “It’s hard. Before, it was just us, it’s not this time.” He didn’t say anything, and he didn’t look at her. “You know what words have kept me from worrying too terribly?” 

“The here and now?” he asked, and she moved her leg back, sitting forward. 

“Keep doing as you are,” she whispered and his jaw clenched. “I felt that too. Instincts, that we were doing something right once Robert came and yelled at us. Your father wouldn’t have said it if it wasn’t true.” 

He sighed and pulled her to him, “It's not…it's...” 

He began to rub her back, and she kissed his shoulder.

“Fixed points?” she whispered, and he just closed her eyes. Of course she knew. 

“One...changed things,” he croaked. “I can feel it. And I’m...angry. At myself. I just...I dunno, Rose. I don’t think I’m supposed to be here. In this body. Everything was fine until-” 

“Stop it,” she said sternly, pulling away to stare at him. “No.” 

He just looked at her sadly and ran a hand through his hair. “Nothing else makes sense. And I can't -”

“I swear to God, stop,” she snapped, anger bubbling inside of her quickly, but she managed to keep the tears at bay for the moment. “That hurts.” 

“Rose -” he started to say, hurting her the very last thing he meant to do, and she just shook her head. 

“I love you,” she said, “And your self deprecating tendencies are a part of you, I know, but that’s too much. I’m _so_ glad you’re still you. Stop.” 

He clenched his jaw and she closed her eyes, still angry. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, and she leaned back against the wall again. “Rose, I’m sorry.” 

She didn’t say anything, too afraid of crying, and he cursed in Gallifreyan at himself under his breath. His face fell into his hands and he laid down on the fluffy rug, the fire burning beside him like the regeneration he avoided, taunting him, and she bit her lip. 

“Look, if _that’s_ the problem, Doctor, I’ll take it and I will happily deal with the consequences,” she said. “Okay? You are not going to blame yourself for not dying. We’ve been through too much.” 

He looked at her, her unwavering faith more than he felt he deserved when he saw tears escape her eyes, shattering his hearts. “Okay.” He sat back up, unable to handle her tears knowing he caused them, and he grabbed her hand, desperate to fix it. “I love you. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” 

A moment passed, and he watched her face as her mind figured out what to say. 

“Stop apologizing,” she whispered hoarsely. “Just...promise me something?”

“Anything,” he replied, and she looked at him very seriously, her eyes boring into him with an intensity he’d never quite seen from her. 

“Promise me you won’t do something reckless on purpose to try and fix whatever you think is broken,” she urged quietly. 

He felt his throat tighten, ashamed that he made her fear something like that, and knowing he absolutely couldn’t blame her for it. 

He had a track record there, too. 

“I promise,” he assured her. “I swear. Come here.” 

He pulled her into a hug, and she collapsed against him, his Christmas scent wrapping around her and making it hard to keep the tears back. He kissed the top of her head, guilt flooding through him, and he cradled the back of her head to his chest. “I’m rather glad I’m still me, too. I didn’t mean...” 

“I want you safe,” she said, running her finger over his wedding ring. “I don’t regret decisions that keep you that way.” 

He sighed, her words hitting him in the gut, and he glanced down at the faint scars on her wrist, before he looked over at the clock again. He felt his hearts quicken when he saw the words that led them to forever, still etched into the side in Gallifreyan. 

Bad Wolf. 

“Quite right.” 

She closed her eyes and shifted in the embrace so her back was leaning against his chest, and both of their hands came to rest on her abdomen. He kissed her temple, sending a wave of apologies to her, and she placed a hand on top of his. 

“Can I see the clock?” she asked, just wanting to change the subject, and he reached over, handing it to her. “You said you played with these.” 

“What?” he asked, his hearts still pounding over making her cry. 

“In the toy store,” she murmured. “How does a little kid play with a clock? I want stories.” 

He swallowed, realizing she wasn’t going to let him wallow, and he began to rub her belly. “There’s StopWatch.” 

“I already know that one. Try again,” she teased, and he just smirked. 

“There weren’t really...games, or anything,” he said. “I was just curious. I’d take them apart and put them back together. Play with the vortex particles to see what I could find... Try to build one from scratch. Isolate the pulse of time for fun.” 

“Such a geek,” she said, and he smiled, amazed that she got him to do so. 

“You love me,” he whispered, and she looked up at him, locking eyes and kissing him. 

“More than anything,” she murmured, and both of their hands rubbed her stomach, when a thought gripped her she couldn’t ignore. “Think we can see the sex?” 

He stared at her, his hearts beating rapidly again, and he nodded. “Yeah, probably.” 

Her tongue was in the corner of her mouth and he smiled, his thoughts about timelines and regenerating slowly moving to the back burner of his mind and he stood, helping her up as they held hands and walked toward the Infirmary, where she proceeded to prop herself up onto the metal bed like usual, lifting her shirt. 

He stared at her, unable not to when he realized there was somehow gold light in this room too and she had somehow found it, and he noticed the small increase in the swell of her stomach. 

She was a little more than four months along, and it was still fairly small, but it made him speechless. 

She smiled at him as he grabbed the scanner, hooking it up to the monitor. He took a deep breath, attaching another scanner so they could also hear the heartbeat, using his sonic screwdriver for just a moment before he put it directly on her belly, and the other he hovered over her skin. 

The double “whoosh” radiated the room, and he swallowed, looking at the screen with a pounding chest. 

“About the size of a pear,” he murmured. 

“Oh, no,” she teased, and he just smiled at her. 

“I forgive them,” he said, winking, and he looked back at the scans. “Her.” 

“What?” Rose asked, sitting up a little, and the Doctor was stunned. 

His head felt foggy, as if he was dreaming and just became aware of it but was trying to stay asleep. Sounds felt far away, and Rose was feeling something incredibly similar, unable to form words as he grabbed her hand, and tilted the monitor a little to give her a better view. 

A daughter. 

Oh, he wasn’t prepared for that at all. Not even a little bit. 

They were both just staring at the screen, and Rose was vaguely aware of joyful tears that started to stream down the side of her face as she stayed laying down, and he squeezed her hand, tongue tied and dizzy and a thousand other things. 

“Hello,” Rose whispered to the image, her face breaking out into a smile, and the Doctor watched. 

A being in the universe, who was a whole lot of _her._

“She’s beautiful,” he said, and Rose just bit her lip, reaching for him. He pulled her into a hug, and pressed his lips to her forehead. “I love you.” 

“I love you so much,” she replied, squeezing him. “Can I see her again?” He smiled, pulling away so she could turn to the monitor, and she just shook her head. “That’s just...” 

“I know,” he said, brushing her hand with his thumb. “More Tyler women. The universe just got a bit stronger.” She smiled at him and he winked, “Don’t tell you mother I said that.” 

She laughed, and kissed him, and he shook his head, a thousand thoughts running through his mind. 

A daughter. 

He smiled against the kiss, and they both made happy sounds as they wrapped their arms around each other, and he shook his head, still feeling dizzy, and the words just couldn't compute in his head. “Imagine that...” 

“I did,” she said, her tongue peeking through her teeth, and they just looked at each other.

Their eyes were flirting, and he just raised an eyebrow at her playfully, which just made her laugh. “See? I knew I was right not to make that bet.” 

“Mmm,” Rose said. “There’s other things we can bet on.” 

“Like?” he asked, and she just bit her lip. 

“Due date?” she said. He gave her a look. 

“We live in the Vortex,” he murmured flirtatiously, pulling her hair behind her ear. “Dates are irrelevant and convoluted.” 

“You’re just scared I’ll win,” she teased, and he smiled at her. 

“Well...call it an instinct,” he said lovingly, and she kissed him. “Scientifically, of course, according to the Earth calendar it should be November 15th. Give or take.”

“November 15th?” she repeated. She knew this, of course, they had talked about it numerous times, but in this moment it felt like she was just discovering she was pregnant all over again, and she just smiled, trying to process. 

A daughter. 

His heart skipped a beat, and he just smiled, leaning against the metal bed. 

“That okay?” he asked, and she just looked down at her belly. 

“Y-yeah,” she said. “My new favorite date.” 

He felt his throat tighten. “I know nothing about raising a daughter, Rose. I had sons…” 

“Neither do I,” she said, laughing. “We’ll figure it out. Together.”

“Together,” he repeated. 

She bit her lip, nudging him a little with her hand. “I can handle all the sex and periods talks.” 

“Why?” he asked. “I’m a doctor.” 

She rolled her eyes, and he smiled, and their banter felt normal for the first time in a few days. He took a deep breath, still finding it all impossible. “Where do you want to go? Anywhere, tell me.” 

“Right now?” she asked, and he nodded. 

“Right now,” he said happily and she just pursed her lips, thinking, making his hearts skip a beat. 

“Somewhere...kids would like. Somewhere you might want to take her on her one day,” Rose said, and the Doctor just let out a breath. He didn’t know what he expected, but it wasn’t that. 

“Come here,” he said. 

He kissed her, wrapping his hands into her hair, and she moaned a little, sparking arousal in both of them. Her hand slipped under his sweatshirt, feeling the ripple of muscles that were much stronger than they looked and he gasped, pulling her a little closer to him. 

“What I said earlier, I didn’t mean it,” he murmured, kissing her again. “I had a nightmare.”

“It’s okay,” she said, biting her lip as he kissed her neck. 

“No, it’s not,” he panted, his breath hitting her skin and sending goosebumps onto her arms. He pulled away, cupping her face. “I made you cry. I made it seem like I regret that decision. I don’t. Of course I don’t…” 

He nibbled on her lip as his lips moved back to hers, and her hands gripped the back of his head. He pulled away with a pop, pulling her shirt over her head so he could kiss her chest. 

“I could never regret this,” he said breathlessly, rubbing his hand over her cheek. “Not ever. Not holding onto _us,_ the way we are. I’m so sorry.” 

“I hate that word,” she said, pulling him into a kiss. “Don’t wanna hear it anymore.”

He groaned when she opened her mind, sending him everything she was feeling at this moment, and his tongue danced with hers as they slithered out of the rest of their clothes. 

“Rose…” he moaned, and she laid down completely, ignoring the sting of the cold metal as it touched her bare skin, and he kept going. “I love you, so much…” 

“I love you, too,” she said, and he tried to keep speaking, and she had no interest in more apologies, so she snatched his lips in a long kiss and moved against him, taking control for a moment. He whimpered and she pulled away, panting and shaking her head. 

“I share your mind,” she reminded him. “I know. Okay? You don’t have to say anything. I just couldn’t let you do that to yourself.” 

She started to rock against him, and it all felt overwhelming for a moment. 

“Wait...” he said, stopping for a moment to collect himself. She cupped his cheeks. “I want to keep going, I do, I just…” 

“Doctor…” she whispered. 

“I hate making you cry,” he said, his voice breaking just a little. “I hate that I made you think I might...I _can’t._ I would never. Not anymore, not after getting forever with you. I need you to know that. Not after we made…”

His hand brushed along her stomach and she began to move again, her mind still open and sharing everything with them, and she pulled him closer. 

“Remind me how we did that,” she whispered, and he clenched his jaw. “Hm? Can you do that?” 

“Rose…” he said quietly, and she moved faster. 

“Remind me, Doctor,” she demanded. “It’s just me and you. Remind me.” 

He smiled, shaking his head slightly in amazement as he began to thrust, and the sounds that escaped her throat made him move faster until the supernova burst, and he collapsed against her. She kissed his forehead. 

A moment passed where neither said anything, and he realized that her asking him to remind her was really her reminding him, and he just smiled. 

Marriage. 

“I love you,” he whispered, and she flashed him his favorite smile. 

“Do you feel better?” she asked, and he looked at her, hazel galaxies swimming in chocolate, and he kissed her slowly. 

“Thank you,” he murmured, and she brushed his hair back, counting all the freckles on his face.

“Do you want to talk about it? The nightmare?” she asked, and he shook his head. 

“I still want to go somewhere,” he said, smiling. “If you are feeling up to it.” 

“Of course I am,” she said with a grin, and they kissed again, finding themselves in the console half an hour later, all cleaned up in fresh clothes, and he pulled the lever. 

An unexpected adventure awaited them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, exploring how their fears don't go away after they get forever, they manifest. The Doctor had a moment, but he's okay, I promise!


	2. The Mirror

A daughter. 

That thought was dominating his mind as they stepped off the TARDIS. His goal, before he allowed himself to start to process, was merely to see what Rose thought about taking her to something like this one day when she was old enough, but now he couldn’t absorb anything he was seeing. 

A baby girl. Who will one day call him ‘Dad.’ 

He couldn’t wrap his head around it. He was already picturing a small Rose, whose smile he knew would wrap him around her finger in a heartbeat. She’d probably have her nose, her eyes, her wit….

Rose was talking to him, but he had no idea what she was saying. He just held her hand as he walked in his daze and she stopped just before they approached a ticket booth, confused why he thought this would be a fun place for a child, and smiled at the young man behind the glass. 

It cost 2 pence to get inside whatever this was, and she pulled the coins out of her pocket as she looked around, so many questions running through her head. It was very clear they were in the 19th century, and they weren’t exactly dressed the part. 

He didn’t seem to care about that too much. 

“Doctor,” she said, smiling at him, and he snapped out of his daze for a moment, realizing they were inside the gates. 

“Sorry,” he said, smiling at her. “I was…” 

“I know,” she said, and he just shook his head, pulling her into a hug. “But...just...where the hell are we?” 

“Well, you said we could go somewhere I wanted to take her. It’s a science fair. Year 2262! Over here there’s- ” he said, and she just looked, biting her lip to stop from laughing when she saw it click in his head, and he frowned. “I may have been distracted.” 

“I love you,” she hummed, kissing him briefly, and he just sighed. 

“Come on, let’s go back, I can reset -” he said, and she just flashed him her deductive face, grabbing his hand and pulling further inside what they both were realizing was some sort of carnival, and he just rolled his eyes. 

“When have we ever turned back?” she hummed. “I think this will be a hilarious story to tell her one day. Might as well see what this place has to offer, no?” 

“It’s just...carnival games,” he groaned. “Not even the good ones. And there’s no funnel cake.” 

“Whose fault is that?” she said, poking his chest, and he smirked at her. 

“One hour, then we go to the science fair,” he said, winking at her, and she just bit her lip as she looked around again, and they both burst into laughter. 

He just got it so wrong. 

The ground was completely dirt, and the only games they could see were horseshoes, some sort of bag toss, darts, and something with a rifle, which she was certain was not the safest choice. There were a decent amount of people walking around, many staring at Rose and her lack of bustles and corsets, probably thinking she was some sort of pregnant courtesan but she ignored them, holding the Doctor’s hand as he decided to try playing horseshoes, getting quite competitive with himself as she watched, eventually clapping for him. 

“Impressive,” she mused, flirty banter hovering above them as he smiled at her, and they continued walking around the perimeter of the fairly small carnival, stopping to look at some paintings and other pieces of art, and Rose leaned her head on his shoulder. 

“We can go, you were right. ‘s boring,” she whispered, and he raised his eyebrow at her. 

“Only if I get to include those words in the story we tell her,” he said. 

“What words?” she asked, looking up at him, and he just smiled, completely teasing, but having loads of fun doing it. 

“That I was right,” he hummed. She rolled her eyes and hit his arm, walking back toward the entrance, when the flap of a tent blew open in the breeze and something caught her eye. 

“Wait,” she said. “There’s something in there.” 

He watched her as she pulled the curtain back and stared inside, slipping through the slit and tucking herself up against the fabric. He followed her, their curiosity getting the best of them for a moment as they observed the room, and they both noticed an oak mirror sitting in the corner, with some of the most ornate engravings they’d ever seen carved along it’s frame. 

She smiled and moved to it, seeing images of flowers and butterflies in the wood. The Doctor raised a brow at it, and Rose bit her lip, both of them completely drawn to it. Time pulsated out of it, and they were both about to pull out their sonic screwdrivers when a man in a top hat walked up to them, smiling widely. 

“You aren’t supposed to be back here!” he said, a little overzealously.

“Sorry,” the Doctor said. “Just... It’s beautiful. Where’d you get it?” 

“Oh, if I told you that I’d have to kill ya,” he snorted, and the Doctor just looked at Rose, making faces at each other and talking in their heads. The man coughed his laugh away, sniffing and looking back at the mirror. 

“Why’s it tucked back here?” Rose asked, and the man just smiled and belly laughed, trying to usher them out of the tent. 

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” he said. “You look like you’re expecting a little one of your own. You should -” 

“Oi,” Rose said. “Your mother ever teach you not to ask a woman if she’s pregnant? Same goes for assuming.” 

The Doctor stifled a laugh and looked down at his feet, and Rose just smiled at him, winking. 

Instincts. 

“I’m...I apologize,” the man said, and Rose just looked at him seriously, keeping up her façade. 

“It’s alright. You’re not wrong, but just making sure you know your manners,” she said, and the man nodded. 

“Yes ma’am,” he said, and Rose looked at the mirror, waiting for him to continue, and he was a little too afraid of upsetting her. “It’s an old family heirloom. I don’t travel without it. I run the carnival, so it stays back here.” 

“Right,” the Doctor said, looking it over slowly. “May I?” 

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver, his senses on alert as he licked the wood, and Rose rolled her eyes. He then slowly moved around the perimeter of the mirror and a smile broke out on his face. “HA! That is...that is beautiful. Absolutely.” 

“Thank you,” the man said cautiously, and the Doctor clicked his jaw. 

“Where does it go?” he asked eagerly, and the man’s face fell. 

“What?” he said, and the Doctor just tilted his head in that way he does before he’s about to show off just how much smarter he is than someone, and Rose pulled out her own sonic screwdriver, scanning the perimeter as well. 

“Vortex particles,” she said, breaking off to look at the Doctor, who winked. 

“It’s just a mirror,” the man said quickly, pulling Rose's hand away. The Doctor laughed, sticking his arm inside, revealing a portal, and the man shouted at him. “NO!” 

“I can just go in, find out myself,” the Doctor said, and the man shook his head. 

“It’s my secret,” he said, and suddenly, the tone of the room began to shift and the Doctor pulled his arm back, locking eyes with Rose. “Please.” 

“What is your name?” Rose asked, and the man just looked at her. 

“Lewis Carroll,” he murmured, and Rose’s eyes widened. The Doctor’s face broke out into a grin. “You can’t go in there.” 

“Wonderland?” the Doctor said, bouncing up and down. “Oh, that’s... Rose!!” 

“How do you-” Lewis said, but the Doctor was already looking back at the mirror, delighted, and Rose was staring in awe, her tongue tracing her lips. 

“What year is this?” she asked, and Lewis just shook his head, completely perplexed. 

“1862, of course,” he said, and Rose looked at the Doctor, who was completely his boisterous self at the moment. “Stop, please.” 

“It’s brilliant,” he said. “Absolutely _brilliant!_ Have you gone inside?” 

“I...yes,” Lewis said, and the Doctor let out a happy noise, and Rose pulled him away from the mirror, sensing he was making Lewis uncomfortable. 

“Is everything alright? Inside?” she asked, and Lewis just clenched his jaw and nodded. 

“Of course it is,” he said. “But, you really shouldn’t go in there. No one should. It’s…” 

“I’ve been to Wonderland!” the Doctor said. “It’s a fantastic place! Rose, love, it’s wonderful. HA! WONDER-ful, do you get?! There’s lots of ways to get there. Portals, like this, though I’ve never actually come across one. I just sort landed. Complete accident, I thought I was going to a party near -” 

“Doctor,” Rose said softly, smiling at him before he completely rambled, and they both looked at Lewis. “What’s going on?” 

“Whatever do you mean?” he asked, and Rose sat down across from him, looking at him carefully. 

“Well, it’s your...inspiration, right?” she asked. “For your stories?” 

“I’ve never told -” he said, and Rose shook her head. 

“Don’t worry about that,” she said kindly. “Why don’t you want anyone to go inside?” 

The Doctor was still feeling rather elated by this discovery, but he could tell Rose’s instincts were awake. He sat next to her, watching as Lewis shifted a little in his seat. 

“It’s a tranquil place. Everything is sentient, but most are kind. You have the occasional creature with a bad attitude, I s’pose, but you can make friends with the water, the flowers, the golden afternoon…” he said. 

“You could,” Lewis said quietly. “Before.” 

“Before what?” the Doctor asked, his eyebrow raising, and Lewis looked at the mirror. 

“No one is the same,” he said. “All my friends. The ones I want to write about. They’re all...How do you know about me? About Wonderland? Only my family has ever visited.” 

“Ever considered maybe people come when you aren’t visiting?” the Doctor said simply, and Rose nudged him. 

_Rude._

He smirked at her. 

“What do you mean? People are different?” Rose asked, and Lewis just shook his head. 

“It’s hard to explain,” he said. “They just are.” 

“The twins?” the Doctor asked, and Lewis stared at him. 

“You know them?” he asked, and the Doctor just nodded. 

“They’re not the brightest. When I visited, they got in some trouble. I bailed them out,” he said. “Jim and John, correct?” 

“Yes,” Lewis said. “They are rather... I refer to them as TweedleDee and TweedleDum.” 

Rose rested her chin in her hand, hiding a smile. 

“How are they different?” the Doctor asked. 

“They can read,” he said. “Blimey…” 

They both laughed a little. 

“Oi,” Rose said, and they both looked at her. “Both of you, be nice.” 

The Doctor bit his cheek and Lewis just glanced at his hands, closing his eyes. 

“It’s more than that,” he said softly. “I can’t explain it.” 

“When did you last visit?” the Doctor asked, and Lewis just sighed. 

“About five days ago,” he said. The Doctor nodded. 

“How far along are you with your stories?” he asked, and Lewis just shook his head. 

“Again, please, tell me, how do you know -” he began, and the Doctor just sighed. 

“My name is the Doctor, this is Rose. We’re time travelers,” he said, sniffing. “We’ve read them.” 

Lewis just stared at him, and Rose bit her lip. 

“They’re good,” she said. 

“Time travelers?” Lewis whispered. He looked intrigued more than shocked, and both the Doctor and Rose suspected the portal to another world sitting to his right might have shifted this man’s perspective a little. “I...haven’t really started.” 

The Doctor looked at Rose, who bit her lip, and she took Lewis’ hand, ignoring the startled look he gave her. 

“We’re very clever,” Rose said. “We can try to fix it. Save your friends and your stories.” 

“No, it’s dangerous -” Lewis began, but the Doctor just smiled. 

“That just makes it more fun,” he said. “Come on. Live a little. Let us have a go. You can come with us?” Lewis just looked at the mirror, unsure, but the Doctor stood and Rose grabbed his hand, and he led her toward the glass. “Just have some tea and relax, then. We’ll be back soon.” 

“No I… I’ll come. I should, they’re my friends. Just...stay away from the hedges,” he whispered. 

Rose’s instincts weren’t nearly as worried as the man before her seemed to be, and the Doctor could sense that, so he just winked at Lewis as he approached the mirror, and walked through.


	3. Cats and Eggs

It felt, for a moment, like he was touching some sort of silk as the Vortex particles wrapped themselves around him. It was ancient technology that only a handful of places could support, and he was thrilled as he pulled through on the other side with Rose and Lewis right behind him. 

“I’ll still never get used to this,” Rose whispered, smiling up at the Doctor.

They were standing between tall mushroom trees, about a hundred feet above their heads, dancing slowly in a warm breeze that smelled of vanilla. She noticed a long gold path that sat in the center of rolling hills, seemingly going for miles, and they glanced up when a puff of smoke appeared in the air, seeing caterpillar-like creatures on top of the trees. 

The Doctor just started laughing and Rose’s jaw dropped open. He kissed her, leading her further down the path. Lewis stayed silent. 

Flowers began to twist up from the ground to say hello, proving the Doctor’s point about how everything was sentient, and he looked to the sky, where a burnt orange sun complimented a dusty purple sunrise, and he noticed the clouds seemed just as he remembered. 

“So far, all is the same,” he said. He looked over at Lewis who was looking down at his feet, and Rose noticed a large butterfly on the mushroom directly before her, a caterpillar on the one next to it, and she bit her lip. 

“Metamorphosis?” she asked, and the Doctor just smiled at her, thinking she was absolutely brilliant. 

More flowers sprang up, and a river splashed them, especially when they realized Lewis was there. He smiled, briefly, and Rose squealed a bit.

“Just saying hello,” he told her, and Rose bounced on her feet, enamoured. 

“So...Lewis,” she began, and he glanced up. “Queen of Hearts. Real?” 

“Yes,” he said. Rose looked at the Doctor, who furrowed his brow for a moment at the curt way the man answered her, and Rose pressed on. 

“Jabberwocky?” she asked. 

“What?” he asked, and she bit her lip. 

“Nevermind,” she said lightly. “White Rabbit? Mad Hatter? You already said you know TweedleDee and TweedleDum.” 

“Rose,” the Doctor murmured, shaking his head. They both sensed the more questions she asked about the people who lived here, the more uncomfortable Lewis was becoming. 

“So...what is it, then? A parallel universe?” she muttered under her breath to her husband, who gave her a small smile. 

“No, it’s a planet,” he murmured. “Technically, it’s not even called Wonderland. This is Omega 9976X, but after our dear Mr. Carroll’s books here, the rest of the universe started to refer by the name he coined. More fun.” 

“Wow,” she said, looking up and seeing more dazzling things. Water droplets were falling off leaves, dancing in the air on their way to the ground. 

He was about to tell her a story of when he was last here when they all came across a cat sitting on a rock, licking its paw. It looked nothing like the cat in the movies Rose remembered, it was actually fairly Earth-like, with orange and white striped fur that looked soft and fluffy, and they approached slowly, cautious to scare him away. 

“Hello,” the Doctor said, and the Cat looked at them. 

“Don’t,” Lewis warned, but the Doctor ignored him. 

“Hello,” the Cat said. His eyes were a little too big for his face, and his mouth, Rose noticed, was large. Unsmiling. “Are you lost?” 

“Are you?” the Doctor said.

“I’m...” the Cat said, and the Doctor knelt down in front of him, taking a deep breath. “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” 

“Don’t listen to him, he’s not himself,” Lewis said urgently, and Rose placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him as the Doctor looked at the Cat. 

“Do you remember me?” he asked. “I’m the Doctor. You helped me find my way around this place, a long time ago. Or Lewis? Do you remember him?” 

“Which way should I go?” the Cat just asked. “There is only one right way.”

“He doesn’t believe that,” Lewis groaned. “He’s always speaking in fun riddles. Telling you if you don’t know-” 

“I know, Lewis,” Rose whispered. “It’s okay. Trust me.” 

She looked back at the Cat, and she decided to try something. “I know where to go. You can follow us, we can take you home.” 

The Cat just looked at her, and she nodded, holding out her arm so the Cat could jump on it, and he rested on her shoulder, looking at the Doctor. “No one knows where to go.” 

“Well, good thing I’m not no one,” Rose said, smiling, and the Doctor looked at her, falling impossibly more in love as she let her instincts guide her. Lewis was incredibly uneasy and the Doctor smiled at him assuringly. 

“She can sense things that others can’t,” he whispered. 

“What does that mean?” he asked, and Doctor just clicked his jaw. 

“Means I trust her with my life,” he said, “You should too.” 

Lewis didn’t say anything and Rose was walking a little ahead of them, the Cat still on her shoulder. He really wasn’t a Cat person, but he found this particular image endearing, and she nudged her mind to him. 

_So...he might not write his stories, then, if we don’t find whatever is going on? He’s an absolute wreck at the moment._

_He’s on his way to becoming a bit mad, Rose. Brilliant, but mad. Suffered from migraines and epilepsy as an adult. It was never explained, seemingly came out of nowhere, but...well...if he’s been crossing a Vortex Veil over and over... That would do it._

_You’re saying traveling here is affecting his mind?_

_Of course it is. Each time he crosses that veil, he sees a bit of the vortex. No human is supposed to see that. You and I are fine, but...it’ll eventually kill him. ‘Bout thirty-five years from now. His immune system will have grown so weak he’ll contract pneumonia and won’t stand a chance._

_That’s awful._

_Oh, not at all, he leads such a life! Makes quite the impact. Brilliant, human beings are. Over the next few years, his sense of reality will start to shift and he will write his stories. In 1862….he was just drafting it all._

She looked at him, his awe for humans and history leaving her breathless, and they walked for a bit in silence, deducting. 

Despite the scowl on Lewis’ face, the Doctor and Rose were rather enjoying themselves. 

“So, let me get this straight, mister. You knew all this time that Wonderland was real and you never took me?” she teased, looking at the majestic fields of flowers they were passing, and he just laughed. 

“The entire universe, Rose Tyler! We can go anywhere, do anything! I’m sure we would have come eventually. I just never thought about it,” he admitted, but something flickered in his eye, and her smile faltered just a little. 

She saw his sister’s face flash in his mind and she sighed, feeling utterly stupid for not having considered that before she asked. 

Of course Wonderland would make him think of Alice. 

He seemed to not want to talk about it, though, which she thought was for the best considering how their morning began, and he continued his ramble about Lewis Carroll’s life in their minds. 

_Might seem like nothing, in the grand scheme of things, if he doesn’t write them. But, well... time is wibbly and wobbly. It’s just a few hundred pages, but those stories have become intricately woven into timelines in ways I don’t think anyone could have predicted. People adore them. He’d significantly alter the history of the universe by not writing them._

“Ripples,” Rose murmured, and his eyes locked with hers. 

“Quite right,” he said softly. 

“What are you two muttering about?” Lewis asked. The Doctor just looked at him, and the Cat had fallen asleep. 

“What happens in the hedges?” he asked. 

“I can’t explain it,” Lewis said. 

“Try,” the Doctor replied, but Rose stopped walking, noticing they had reached the opening to a forest. 

“Where are we?” she asked. 

“The Impossible Woods,” he said. “According to that Cat, there, when he is himself.” 

“Impossible?” Rose asked, a gleam in her eye. The Doctor felt his hearts flutter. 

“He lives in that tree,” Lewis said, pointing to a trunk that had split half up and formed two trees, where signs pointing in all directions sat along the bark. “This is where I met him.” 

“Me too,” the Doctor murmured. 

Lewis’ eyes widened when he realized Rose had gone the right way without any directions or guidance, and the Doctor just winked at him. 

“Told you. Trust her,” he whispered. 

They all watched as Rose brushed the Cat with her hand and he spurred awake, meowing a yawn and looking around, and his large eyes seemed puzzled. 

“Well, I suppose I should thank you,” he said, hopping off of Rose’s shoulder and climbing up the tree, settling in with his tail dangling over the branch. “I have been trying to find my way.” 

“Don’t mention it,” Rose said. “Do you remember where you were when you forgot where you were going?” 

“Memories are just lies our brains tell us,” the Cat mused, and Rose frowned. 

“That’s not true at all,” she said. 

Rose waited to see if he would smile, as it was a rather curious sentence and she wondered if he was a little more like the Cat in the stories now that he was back in his tree, but he didn’t. Lewis sighed. 

“It’s useless,” he said. “He’s just -” 

Rose stepped forward, ignoring Lewis and reached her hand out, petting the Cat. He started to purr, and the Doctor’s brow furrowed. 

“He hates that, usually,” he murmured, and Lewis looked terrified. 

“What are you doing?” he nearly shouted, and Rose rolled her eyes. 

“Looking for something…” she muttered, and she pushed his fur back more. She was searching for a tick, a knick, any sort of impurity that would explain why the Cat wasn’t himself, and the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, scanning while the Cat was distracted. 

“Lewis, I need you to tell me. What happens with the hedges?” he asked, a little more seriously than before. Lewis began to tremble. 

“They take you,” he said. “If you touch them. Eat you.” 

“Eat you?” the Doctor said flatly. “Do they spit you back out?” 

“You aren’t the same when they do,” he whispered, and the Doctor looked at the Cat.

“Did you touch the hedge?” he asked, and the Cat stared at him. 

“I found my way. There is only one proper path,” he hissed, and the Doctor looked at Rose. 

“Must be some toxin,” he whispered. 

“There’s no wound for me to seep my energy into,” she murmured. The Doctor sniffed. 

“Do you think you could remove it? If there were?” he asked, and Rose stared at him. 

“Do not hurt that Cat,” she said seriously, and he just opened his mouth. “Doctor!”

“You’d heal him!” he shouted, and Rose rolled her eyes. 

“There’s another way,” she said. “Anything alarming on your scans?” 

“No,” he said, sniffing. “It’s not affecting brain waves. Pulse is normal.” 

Rose deducted alongside him, the hum in their heads warm and inviting as they thought together, when the Cat began to stare at the Doctor. 

“I knew who I was this morning,” the Cat admitted, “but I have changed a few times since then.” 

“What does that mean?” the Doctor asked, and the Cat bore its eyes into him. 

“How do you run from what is inside your head, Doctor?” he asked. “So much pain.” 

The Doctor didn’t say anything, but he felt his stomach start to twist. Rose looked at him, then back at the Cat, deducting. 

“Can you see in my head?” she asked. The Cat dropped his gaze to her. 

“No, not your heads. Mine,” he whispered. 

“You’re in pain?” Rose asked, and the Cat nodded, his large eyes starting to cry. She moved to put her fingers on its temple but the Doctor stopped her. 

“Wait,” he said. 

“We should at least ease it,” Rose said, and the Doctor frowned, looking back at the Cat, who was beginning to tremble. 

“Doctor,” he said. “Please.” 

He sighed. “I’ll help you sleep. That’s all I can do.” 

“Thank you,” he said, and the Doctor let Rose place her hands on the Cat’s head, guiding him back to sleep, smirking a little when he was snoring. “Everything is sentient. If you dive too far into the brain of a creature from this planet, you might affect the ecosystem.” 

“Got it,” Rose said, “Thank you.” 

He kissed her, grabbing her hand, and Lewis was staring at them. 

“Are you human?” he asked, and the Doctor just shook his head. “Are you from here? That was….wonderful.” 

“Come on. Let’s keep going,” the Doctor said, not feeling like talking about being a Time Lord at the moment. 

Lewis opened his mouth to ask more questions but the Doctor turned quickly, walking through the forest with Rose’s hand in his, and they started to hear singing. 

It sounded like a flute, but Rose quickly realized it was the grass as the breeze blew through it, and she smiled. Lewis sighed. 

“This part feels...normal,” he said. “If you follow this path here, you’ll reach the gardens.” 

Rose felt her stomach rumble and she realized she hadn’t eaten. She had been so distracted all day, and the Doctor reached into his suit and pulled out a granola bar. 

He learned his lesson on the Isle of Wight. 

She flashed him his favorite smile as she took it from him and ate it quickly, and he handed her another one. They weren’t speaking, but Lewis was watching, noticing how they seemed to anticipate what the other was about to do, or where they would step, and he cleared his throat. 

“Are you married?” he asked. 

“Yes,” the Doctor said, smiling at him. “Two years.” 

“Congratulations,” he said. “And a baby, that’s…” 

“It’s a girl,” Rose said. “We found out today.” 

“Did you really?” he asked. “What do you mean you found out? You have to wait for the baby to be born.” 

“Not where we’re from,” the Doctor hummed, not explaining further, and Lewis just gaped at him. 

“Do tell me,” he said. “It could help with my stories.” 

“You have all you need here,” the Doctor said softly, looking at a patch of mushrooms, noticing a creature that looked mostly like glasses nibbling on it. He glanced up, seeing more creatures starting to make an appearance, curious, and he stopped. “Rose, look.” 

She smiled, waving at small chipmunk-like rodents on the branches. She took it all in, and the Doctor watched her, her awe for everything the universe had to offer leaving him breathless. 

“I love you,” he murmured. 

“I love you, too,” she said, and they grinned at each other. 

Other animals were saying hello. Lewis was delighted, Wonderland his favorite place despite his current nerves. There were frogs that rang like bells instead of ribbeting, a bird the size of a crane with a shovel for a face, and Rose understood why the cat called this “The Impossible Woods.” 

How she _loved_ impossible things.

“Yoo-hoo!” a voice called, and they all turned. Two boys, about three feet tall with egg-like features waltzed up to them, and Lewis stiffened. 

“They’re not themselves,” he reminded Rose and the Doctor, and the boys rolled their eyes at him. 

“What a stupendous day we are having,” one said, and the Doctor’s eyebrows raised. 

“TweedleDee and TweedleDum,” Lewis said, and Rose bit her lip. 

“It is nice, isn’t it?” she asked, and the other egg rocked on its feet. 

“We do not associate with the names to which your colleague has referred,” he said, and the Doctor started laughing, locking eyes with Lewis. 

“I’m the Doctor,” he said. “We’ve met before. Different face. Hello.” 

He wiggled his fingers, and the twins stared at him. 

“Doctor who?” one asked, but then they both started to laugh and the Doctor just shook his head. “Oh, but of course you are! Who are we to question who one is? Welcome back.” 

“Thank you,” he said. “Been around any hedges lately?” 

“What a curious question,” the first egg asked, and then he tilted his head. “I do not recall.” 

“You don’t know?” the Doctor asked, and the twins just smiled. 

“Do you know?” one of the twins asked, and the Doctor felt the wheels in his head turn. 

“Mind if I…?” he said, pulling out his sonic screwdriver, and the twins began to use vocabulary far beyond what the Doctor and Lewis knew they actually understood, and Rose watched the Doctor pull back, shaking his head. “Same as the Cat. Brainwaves are fine.” 

“Are you trying to get home?” Rose asked, and the twins just looked at her. 

“We do not recall,” one said, and Rose stared at them for a moment. 

The Doctor clenched his jaw and he watched as the twins’ smiles began to fall, and they shook their heads, trying to snap out of something that was starting to overcome them. 

“Yesterday things went on as usual, but today is all a blur,” one of the eggs said. 

“Do your heads hurt?” the Doctor asked seriously, and they just nodded, beginning to grab the pointed part of the egg in agony. 

“Doctor, if you don’t, I will,” Rose said. 

“The ecosystem,” the Doctor said, and Rose just moved to one of the twins, easing their mind to sleep, then moved to the other. 

“Will be fine. Instincts, ” she said, and he just sighed. Lewis was staring at the eggs in shock. 

“Please tell me how you do that,” he said. 

Rose just smiled at him as she grabbed the Doctor’s hand and they continued down the path until they reached the garden, a large open field with a few oak trees and lots of bright flowers, and party streamers were strung across the middle. 

A man with a hat and delirious eyes sat at a table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Lewis Carroll was a pen name, but I'm just letting it be the name he called himself. Also there are lots of different opinions out there about the state of his mind/health, I did quite a bit of research before I began, so this is my Whovian version of him lol. Hope you're enjoying!


	4. Mad as a Hatter

The man was sitting in an oversized chair, staring intently at a teacup. Rose didn’t need to ask who he was, and she could feel her husband’s delight as they approached the table, and she sensed that whatever was about to happen was absolutely going to be part of the story they one day tell their daughter. 

“One approaches cautiously when one has something to hide,” he said, his eyes still staring at the teacup. “Is it your guilt?” 

“What?” the Doctor asked, but the man looked at Lewis, who clenched his jaw. 

“I came back,” he said. The man turned the teacup over on its rim, and smashed it with his hand, and then let out a remarkable giggle. Rose realized he wasn’t affected by the toxin, he was mad as hell, and she nibbled on her lip. 

“Why is a raven like a writing desk?” she asked, her instincts telling her to. The Doctor smiled a little, then looked at the man, who just stared at her. 

“Do you know the answer to that?” he asked her, and she looked at him in contemplation. 

“No,” she said simply. 

“Then why ask?” he whispered, hopping out of his seat to move closer to her. 

“Because,” Rose said, and the man looked at her, surprised she was still talking. “Who says not knowing _isn’t_ the answer?” 

He smiled at her, revealing a row of crooked teeth, and he gestured to the seat across from him. She bit her lip, sitting down, and she looked at the Doctor, who shook his head at her in amazement and winked. 

He loved her so much it took his breath away. 

“My name is Hatter,” he said. “What is yours?” 

“Rose,” she said. “That’s my husband, the Doctor.” 

The Hatter’s eyes brightened at these words and he looked over her shoulder at him, who was standing with his arms behind his back. 

“Looking a bit mad, my friend,” the Doctor said, and the Hatter smashed another teacup, giggling. 

“Says the man who travels in a box,” he taunted. “Tick tick like a clock. ‘Mad’, Doctor, is in the eye of the beholder. Sit, sit, sit.” 

The Doctor smiled and the Hatter made a noise, once again standing out of his seat, this time resting his back on the table, looking up at the sky. Lewis was growing agitated, but both Rose and the Doctor followed Hatter’s gaze, and the Doctor gripped Rose’s knee under the table. 

There was a constellation, one he was just now remembering was only visible from this spot in the universe, an impossible and mad happenstance that he knew had something to do with how ancient this planet was, dancing above their heads. 

Circles. Overlapping each other. Again and again and again…. 

“Does that mean anything to you?” the Doctor asked, and Lewis groaned. 

“I don’t think -” he started to say, and the Hatter sat up, his hat falling off of his head and revealing wild, wiry red hair, and he glared at Lewis. 

“Then you shouldn’t speak!” he snapped, and Lewis took a deep breath. 

“Hatter -” he began, and the man grabbed his hat and stood on the table, pulling out a pocket watch and staring at it. “Hatter, please.” 

“We need you, Doctor,” he said seriously, ignoring Lewis as he jumped off the table. “Tick tock tick tock.” 

“Can you tell me what is going on?” he asked, and the Hatter giggled. 

“Only if you can tell me if it's time for tea?” he asked. 

“It’s always time for tea,” he said with a wink, and the Hatter made a noise and snapped his finger, and a few new creatures that looked like spoons jumped down from the tree above their heads, and the Hatter began to sing. 

It was dazzling to watch as the tea party was set up, and even though both Rose and the Doctor felt their hearts pounding at the sight of the stars above their heads, they were smiling and laughing as the spoons danced and small cakes popped up from nowhere, and Rose grabbed one and scanned it to make sure it would be safe to eat, still a little hungry. 

“You can’t encourage him,” Lewis scolded. “He’s wasting time!” 

Everything stopped, and the Hatter let out a breath, grinning madly. “This way, that way, wrong way….” 

“I came BACK!” Lewis shouted, and the Hatter shouted over him. 

“EVERY WAY BUT THE RIGHT WAY!” 

They stared at each other, and Rose looked at the Doctor. She traced her tongue along her lip, and she was starting to realize whatever is going on was not just about the hedges.

“Lewis,” she said, and he glanced over at her. The Hatter just returned to his song, and he began to pour tea messily in all the teacups. 

The Doctor looked back up at the constellation, trying to remember what the name of it was, and the Hatter sat down next to him, sipping three teacups at once. 

“Tell me, Rose,” the Hatter said. “What must happen to the uninformed?” 

“Depends,” she said. “What are they uniformed about?” 

The Doctor looked over at Lewis who was shaking his head and muttering, and he turned his attention back to the hatter. “What happened?” 

“The hedges,” Lewis muttered. “I angered them.” 

“How?” Rose asked, and Lewis just looked at Hatter who was speaking in rhymes under his breath, spinning a teacup on the table. 

“The Queen…” Lewis whispered, and the Doctor suddenly remembered when he had been so curt before. “I’ve never met her.”

“Enormous head!” the Hatter sang, “Can you stand on yours?” 

Rose just looked at him as he proceeded to do a handstand, and Lewis just sighed. 

“He’s mad,” Lewis muttered. 

“You all are, aren’t you?” Rose said softly, a small smile on her face, and Lewis shook his head. 

“No...I mean he’s angry. With me,” he sighed. 

“Talk,” the Doctor said, kicking a chair out that was across from him, and the Hatter’s muttering increased as Lewis moved to sit. 

“For my stories,” he said. “I need to know what she’s like. But she won’t let anyone near her. She has mazes and guards that stand outside her castle. I...tried to break in. Hatter tried to help. So did the twins, stupid choice...So did the Cat…” 

He trailed off, and the Hatter suddenly shouted. 

“YOU HAVEN’T HAD YOUR TEA!” he screamed at Rose, who pulled out her sonic screwdriver and to scan it as well, the Hatter's smile grew manic. “You are like him?” 

“The Doctor?” Rose asked. “Yeah, sort of.” 

“She is,” the Doctor said, winking at her. 

“No...Time,” the Hatter replied. 

Both Rose and the Doctor stared at him, and the Doctor cleared his throat, sitting up. 

“What do you know about Time?” he whispered, his hearts beating rapidly as the constellation twinkled above their heads. 

“Look, you asked me - ” Lewis said, and the Doctor just glared at him before looking back at the Hatter, waiting for his response. 

“He can’t stand beating,” he said simply. “Music is upsetting. Rhythm is appalling! Because who can say what Time really is other than Time himself! I sing without beats to stay on good terms. Like this!” 

He started to sing again, and the Doctor looked up at the circles, still trying to remember the name. “Hatter,” he began. “Look at me.” 

He did, and the Doctor clenched his jaw. “Rose and I, we’re good friends with Time. You know that, right?” 

“Tick tock, tick tock,” he whispered, his eyes darting across the Doctor’s face. 

“Do you know why you say those words twice? Tick tock? Tick tock?” he asked, and the Hatter pondered for a moment. 

“Because one is not enough!” he said, and the Doctor grabbed his hands, placing one over each of his hearts, the beat of each echoing against his palm.

“It’s a heartbeat. My heartbeat,” he whispered. 

“You are Time?” the Hatter asked, and the Doctor shook his head. 

“No,” he said. “But...it’s complicated, Hatter, but I need you to do something for me. Focus. It’s something to help Time, okay? Something that may help save your friends, too, because, and believe me when I tell you this, Rose and I will save them. I give you my word.” 

“What is it?” the Hatter asked, his eyes wide, his voice almost sounding normal, and Lewis was pale, just watching. 

“What are those stars called?” he whispered, looking up at the sky. 

“I call them….Bonkers. Haha!” he said, and the Doctor took a deep breath, trying not to get irritated as the Hatter giggled, and Rose grabbed his hat and placed it on her head. 

He stared at her. 

“You’ll go mad,” he said. “Mad as a hatter.” 

“I’ll take my chances,” she said softly, winking at him. “Rather fond of hatters.” 

He smiled at her, and she took the hat off, handing it back to him. 

“Do you know the name?” the Doctor asked carefully. “Please.” 

The Hatter just took a breath and looked up at the sky, his eyes tracing the circles. “I do not.” 

The Doctor closed his eyes and felt Rose rub his back. 

_You can’t remember?_

_No. I recognize it, though._

_We’ll figure it out._

_I know..._

“I’ve looked at those stars, too,” Lewis said, and the Doctor looked at him with a bored expression, aware that Lewis Carroll, of all people, would not have the answer he was looking for. “They remind me of water.” 

“Ripples,” Rose whispered, looking up at the sky. “Oh, my God…” 

Or...maybe he did. 

The Doctor felt his throat tighten and he looked at Lewis, and Rose gripped his hand. The name of the constellation came to him instantly, a piece of the universe he never used that got tucked away, and he nodded. “Thank you.” 

They were one step closer. 

“For what?” he asked, and the Doctor just sniffed, aware that as much as he wanted to run back to the TARDIS with Rose and tell her more about the cluster above their heads, as much as he wanted to pour through books in the library or go visit that constellation themselves and see what other clues they could gather, he couldn’t. 

As per usual, the universe needed saving first. 

“Tell me the rest of the story,” he said instead, and Lewis looked at the Hatter, who was drinking more tea. 

He handed Rose another granola bar, getting nervous they wouldn’t be able to eat for a while. 

_What did you remember?_

_They're called Caspian's Song... We'll talk about it later, yeah?_

__

__

_Yeah, of course. This is good, Doctor. I can feel it._

_Me too._

Their eyes danced for a moment, and he held the granola bar up again. 

_Please?_

She took it and winked at him, chewing, and Lewis sighed. 

“We managed to crawl into the courtyard through an underground tunnel,” he said. “But then, a guard spotted us. We ran, and I ripped the roses off of the hedges, throwing them at the guards. I didn’t know that she values them, they're just a flower..." 

"Well...maybe to you. I happen to love roses," the Doctor whispered, and Rose gave him a small smile, squeezing his hand. Lewis smirked a little, thinking it was a very strange coincidence. He might have been a little apprehensive at first, but he through she was wonderful. 

"The hedges around her maze snatched the Cat and the twins. The Hatter, I dunno...They snatched him, too, but he wasn’t affected for some reason,” Lewis continued. “The other three…” 

“Whatever it is is causing them pain,” the Doctor said seriously. “What exactly happened?” 

“It was like...a trance. The hedges moved closer, we didn’t realize you couldn’t touch until the Cat did it. The twins...they’re dumb, I know you think I’m being unfair, Rose, by calling them that, but they are. They saw the Cat snatched and they just touched the hedge anyway,” he whispered. 

“Sounds to me like they were being a good friend,” she said. And Lewis clenched his jaw. 

“Hatter here told me to run and get them to safety, and he fought off the guards….” he murmured. 

The Hatter smashed another teacup, and it made Rose jump. 

“The thing is,” the Hatter said. “No one plays fair when they think they can get away with it.” 

“The Queen?” she asked, and the Hatter just giggled. 

“I...ran back to the gate and stayed in that tent until you two found me. I’m so ashamed of myself…” Lewis said, burying his face in his hands. “My friends…” 

“You came back,” Rose said. “That shows courage. Sometimes, it's not only actions that define us, but how we make up for them.” 

The Doctor ran a hand on her knee and she leaned her head on his shoulder, and Lewis just stared at them. 

“It’s some defense system she had set in place,” the Doctor said, his brain processing the story. “Good.” 

“How is that good?” Lewis asked, and the Doctor just grinned. 

“Defenses can be broken,” he said. “I think it’s time you meet the Queen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, the Mad Hatter is so hard to write. I just made my own version because holy cow.


	5. Breaking and Entering

By the time they reached the outskirts of the castle, the sun had set. 

The dusty sky was now a deep purple. Stars twinkled above them, making it impossible for the Doctor and Rose to completely put their timeline on a shelf while they solved this problem, and they were sharing glances and squeezing hands, the constellation in the back of their minds, sending hope coursing through them. 

If he wasn’t currently standing on a hill looking down at a zig-zagging maze that he knew would eat them if they touched it, he would be dissecting the whiplash his emotions can give him. Rose’s hand was resting on her stomach, and the Hatter was muttering under his breath, possibly about to spontaneously combust, no one could quite be sure, but they were all thinking hard to try and find a way in without drawing attention to themselves. 

“I never get involved in politics,” the Hatter sang, moving to stand by Rose and looking down at the castle. “Too much reason.” 

“I reckon there’s never enough,” Rose countered, and the Hatter just giggled, delighted by her. The Doctor looked over at Lewis. 

“Those tunnels you used, where are they?” he asked. 

“There,” Lewis muttered, sitting on the edge of the hill, pointing to a watering well they could see was surrounded by rose bushes. The Doctor sniffed and deducted more, noticing guards dressed in red, looking rather human. 

Rose gave the Doctor a sheepish smile and he just rubbed his eye and nudged her a little, knowing she was about to make some comment about them not being a deck of cards. 

“The tunnels are under the well?” he asked Lewis, who just nodded. “Right, well...it worked before, but they might suspect it now.” 

The Hatter was still muttering, and Rose moved to stand in front of him. “Hatter?” 

“I know I am, but what are you?” he asked, she smiled. 

“When the hedges took you, what happened? Do you remember?” she asked. He stared at her. 

“I already said. The Queen. She’s breaking her own rules,” he said. 

“What does that mean?” the Doctor asked, looking at him carefully. 

“No scheme of ours can raise any sort of smile,” he said simply, and Rose bit her lip. 

“Well,” the Doctor said. “We’re brilliant. That won’t be a problem.” 

“We need a distraction,” Rose added. “Something that will pull the guards away and we can just run in.” 

“What, through the archway?!” Lewis cried, and Rose looked down at the bottom of the hill, where the entrance to the maze rested in a hedge, trimmed into the shape of a heart. 

“Yes,” she said. The Doctor made a happy sound, finding it all exciting and sensing Rose did too, but Lewis shook his head. 

“You’re going to get us all killed,” he said. 

“Why? No one died before,” the Doctor mused, and Lewis just shook his head. 

“No, because we ran,” he said. “What you’re suggesting is…” 

“Mad?” Rose asked, and the Hatter squealed and began to rhyme, and Lewis just looked at her. “What do you need?” 

“What?” he asked. 

“For your stories. What do you need?” she asked. 

He looked at her for a moment, and it struck the Doctor like a force, that he was watching Rose save another lost soul, in a way much different from his own. 

“I need my friends back. I can’t do it without them,” he whispered. “And I need to meet the Queen. Even if she is mad. Even if it's just for a moment.” 

“A moment is all it takes!” the Hatter said, grinning, and he moved to sit next to Lewis. Rose looked at him carefully. 

“Let your need guide your behavior,” she said. Lewis’ brow furrowed. 

“That’s good advice,” the Hatter mused, and Rose smiled. 

“Thanks. It’s his,” she said, winking at Lewis, whose eyes widened in understanding, and a new surge of confidence seemed to find him. He stood and looked down at the maze, and the Doctor smiled, wrapping his arm around Rose’s waist, kissing her temple. 

_Very clever, Rose Tyler._

_Instincts. And...Alice in Wonderland just so happens to be mum’s favorite book._

_Of course it is._

Their eyes danced with each other, and he kissed her, not caring at all that Lewis and the Hatter were watching. He deepened it under the moonlight, pulling her to him, and the Hatter began to ramble about love and babies, making Rose laugh against the kiss. 

“What did you just say?” she asked, and the Hatter bounced a little. 

“Twinkle, twinkle, little bat, how I wonder where you’re at? Up above the world so high, in a box that’s in the sky!” he chanted, and the Doctor stared at him. Rose bit her lip, and they both started to laugh, and the Doctor hugged her. The Hatter walked up to Rose and gave her a curious look. “There is something about you I can’t place.” 

“What do you mean?” she asked, and he smiled. 

“You seem to be a bit impossible,” he said, and Rose flashed her tongue in cheek smile. 

“So what if I am?” she asked. 

“What if, indeed!” the Hatter shrieked, and he ran to the edge of the hill. “Tick tock like a clock. The hour is...heavy.” 

Rose followed his gaze and saw a statue of the Queen. It looked small from the hilltop, but she knew it was probably about forty feet high, made of marble, with lots of guards crossing in front of it. She looked over at the Doctor, who nodded, knowing what she was thinking. 

“Do it,” he said. 

Rose shot a beam of light toward the statue, breaking it into a thousand pieces. The guards began to shout, all running away for a moment while the Hatter giggled and Lewis gawked at Rose, stunned. 

“Go, go, go!” the Doctor shouted, and they followed him and Rose as they ran down the hill, reaching the heart-shaped arch. 

“Don’t touch the hedges!” Lewis reminded everyone as they ran inside, and Rose let her Instincts guide her through the maze. Every guard was currently near the statue, trying to figure out what the hell happened, some looking up at the hill. All were yelling, and the four of them weaved through the pathways, noticing the hedges were starting to move closer. 

_We need to scan them, Rose._

_We will. Right now we run, yeah?_

Rose pulled them all down a path no one else thought to take, and before they could process it, they were standing in the courtyard in front of the castle, looking up at two oversized red doors. The statue was two hundred feet away on the other side, and all the guards were still distracted.

Rose brought them all around to the corner of the castle and ducked back, letting them all catch their breath. 

“You alright?” the Doctor asked her, and she nodded, squeezing his arm as she peered over the wall. 

In front of the doors stood a fountain, red as blood, and Rose felt nauseated for a moment when the smell of paint suddenly struck her. She gripped the Doctor’s hand who rubbed her back, able to feel it as well in his mind. 

“Rose…” he said. 

“It’s nothing,” she murmured. 

Her morning sickness was mostly gone, and she honestly couldn’t tell if this was because of that or because she just ran like lightning down a hill on a mostly empty stomach. He just looked at her, concerned, but she just glanced over at the hedges and noticed the roses, dripping with red paint, and she realized that part of the story appeared to be fact, not fiction. 

It felt... ominous, and she was suddenly quite dizzy. 

“Okay, nevermind. I need to eat something,” she whispered, and he clenched his jaw, scanning her to make sure she wasn’t about to pass out. Her blood sugar had dropped and he sighed, angry with himself because he had been worried about this all day. “I’m sor-” 

“Stop,” he said softly. “I love you. Stay here.” 

“Wait, you can’t leave, what are you -” Lewis started to say, but the Doctor ignored him, using his sonic to open the window on the wall they were hiding behind and slid into the castle. 

He found himself in a study. A heart-shaped fireplace was roaring with pink and yellow flames and he scanned the room, breathing out a sigh when he saw he was alone. He had no idea what he was doing or where he was going, but he didn’t care. He’d figure it out. 

His family needed him. 

He sniffed and clenched his jaw as he slipped out of the room, looking around and made his way down a long hallway. The tile on the floor was red and black, like a checkerboard, and he soniced a few more doors open, looking for the kitchen. He saw more guards turning the corner, apparently trying to help with the statue or possibly escort the Queen somewhere and he pulled himself into a closet, waiting until he heard the sound of footsteps retreating further away from him, and he sighed, peeking his head out and continuing his search. 

_Just checking on you._

_I’m going to scan the hedges while they are distracted._

_Rose…_

_I’m fine. Just hurry back._

He swallowed, aware he wasn’t going to be able to stop her. He didn’t care what food he might find at this rate, so long as it was edible, and for a moment he reached into his pocket, wondering if the TARDIS might be able to hear and might have sent something, but they were empty. He shook his head, thinking again about how she plays favorites. 

He could spend time thinking about how strange this entire trip was turning out to be. He knew it was destiny. The constellation had proven that to him, and he was sure there was more to unpack, but he didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole right now. 

The irony of that phrase was not lost on him. 

He soniced one more door open, and frowned. 

Hats. 

“You found my room,” the Hatter said behind him and he jumped, knocking over a few of the masterpieces onto the floor. 

“Bloody hell,” he gasped, and the Hatter just smiled, looking around at all the colors and feathers and fabrics. 

“Rose sent me. I know my way around the castle,” he said. “Lewis is with her.” 

It was the most normal sentence he’d heard this man say in every interaction he’d ever had with him and he just looked at him, slightly alarmed. “Is she okay?” 

“She’s hungry,” he said. “But then again, so am I! I know where the kitchens are.” 

“Wait,” the Doctor said, scanning him. “You didn’t touch the hedge did you?” 

“Doctor,” the Hatter said, looking at him very intently. “You are entirely too serious. Children have imagination. The thing reality fears the most. I rather like imagination, therefore I rather like your child, and I’d rather like to help them.”

He grabbed a yellow hat, bright like the sun and switched it out with his for a moment, laughing. “I think she will do mad things, seeing who she comes from. You two are the maddest part of the universe!” 

“What makes you say that?” he asked, but the Hatter giggled, and the Doctor lowered his sonic screwdriver, realizing he was okay. 

“Well you must be, if you came back here,” he said. “You, Doctor, are just a madman with a box!” 

“Oh, definitely,” he said, smirking at him, and the Hatter gestured to the hall with his head, leading the Doctor down the checkerboard. “Did Rose tell you we were having a girl?" 

"She didn't have to!" he said. "Just a lucky guess." 

The Doctor sniffed, aware this man spoke nonsense and reading into his words often led to nowhere, and looked back at the door they just left. "What did you do in that room?” 

“Do your eyes not work?” he murmured, and the Doctor chuckled. 

“Were you trapped? Forced into it?” he asked, but the Hatter didn’t say anything. “How long were you there?” 

The Hatter just bounced on his feet as he opened a door to a set of stairs, and they walked down carefully, almost to the kitchens. 

“You and I both know, Doctor, what a difficult question that is to answer. Time to me and Time to you are not the same thing,” the Hatter said, and the Doctor just watched as he opened one more door, revealing the kitchen. 

No one was inside, and the Doctor realized the servants must be distracted by the statue debacle as well and he just looked around, stuffing bread and fruit and other items into his pocket so Rose could at least get something of substance in her stomach until they got back to the TARDIS. “Tick tock.” 

“I know,” the Doctor said. “Here. You should eat, too. We need to get back.” 

He tossed him some of the food he gathered and the Hatter took a bite. The Doctor shoved one more round of snacks into his pocket and sighed, looking back at the Hatter who was once again standing on his head. 

“Do you ever think, Doctor, that maybe this is the world right-side up? And we are eternally upside down?” he asked, and the Doctor just looked at him. 

“Come on,” he said, not engaging and walking back out of the kitchen. He scanned the hallway on their way back to Rose, and he sighed when he suddenly saw her running towards him with Lewis’s hand in hers down the hall, her eyes wide. 

“I told you-” he said, but she just gave him a look. 

“Yeah, yeah, lecture me later. GO!” she said, and he glanced behind her, just in time to see three guards, now holding spears, chasing them. 

“Here,” he said, handing her some bread, which she took a bite of with a smile as her hand slipped out of Lewis’ into his, and they all ran. 

“This way!” Rose shouted, back down toward the stairs. The Doctor found it all entirely ridiculous, and he knew Rose shouldn’t be running so he just stopped, flashing her a knowing look as he turned to the guards, and he shocked them with an electrical pulsation, knocking them out. 

The Hatter and Lewis stared at him, and Rose just sighed.

“Eat,” he said. “The universe can wait.”

“Thank you,” she said. 

Lewis almost voiced how nervous he was feeling, but he could sense the Doctor wouldn’t hesitate to shock him too if he sensed he would hinder anything that regarded Rose and their baby’s safety, so he just waited for a few minutes while Rose’s hunger subsided, and the Doctor eased, sensing she was feeling better. 

He winked at her and touched her belly, and she smiled. 

For a moment, they let themselves think about it. 

A daughter. 

The Hatter was back to spewing riddles and making comments that didn’t entirely make sense as he wandered around the room, and the Doctor began to eat a bit too once he knew Rose had enough, and he tried to hand some to Lewis. 

“No, thanks,” he said. “So...what’s your plan?” 

“Dunno,” the Doctor said, swallowing his final bite. 

“You just ran into this place with no idea of what you were going to do?” he asked. 

“Yes,” the Doctor said. “We like to just...make it up as we go, don’t we, love?” 

“Very much so,” she said, and Lewis sighed. “The hedges are just hedges. A bit of neuro activity, but you said everything is sentient. No toxin.” 

He kissed her, about to start deducting with her when he briefly looked over at the Hatter, who was staring at the wall. “What?” 

“Puzzle,” he said, and the Doctor moved to him, seeing a series of shapes protruding out of the stone. “We must solve it.” 

“What does it do?” Lewis asked, and the Hatter looked at him. 

“Nothing for you,” he said, and Lewis looked at him. 

“Hatter,” he said softly. “I’m sorry. I am. I was scared. But I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere, I swear. Not again.” 

“Never ruin an apology with an excuse, Mr. Carroll,” he said, and he looked back at the wall. “And as far as going anywhere is concerned, where is there to go?" 

Lewis smiled, the first genuine one he’d made since they crossed the Vortex Veil, and the Hatter smiled back. 

“It’s a Lunar Cipher,” the Doctor said, his hand tracing the shapes. His brow was furrowed and he looked up, turning in a circle as he tried a way to read it. “I haven’t seen one of these in ages!” 

“You need moonlight?” Rose asked, and the Doctor winked at her. She pulled a stool over and let her instincts guide her, and was about to stand on it when the Doctor grabbed her arm. 

“Doctor, I’m not going to break my neck. We’ll be fine,” she sighed, but he just pleaded with his eyes.

“It’s flimsy,” he said meekly, and Rose held her tongue and stepped aside. He squeezed her hand as he stood on the stool and scanned the top of the wall, hovering over it until he saw a piece of stone that looked a slightly different color than the others, and he pulled it out. 

A perfect beam of moonlight hit the shapes, illuminating a single word. 

**MADNESS.**

“Do you play croquet?” a voice called, and they all spun around, where the Queen stood at the top of the steps, wearing a long red dress, staring at them.


	6. Mama Wolf

Rose stared at the Queen as she refused to move closer to them. Her red dress was the color of blood, or maybe a rich merlot, and it was twisting her stomach a little, and she noticed what the Hatter had meant by her head being rather enormous. It was like an over-inflated balloon, and her black hair was twisted on top of it tightly, somehow only adding to its size. 

Lewis smiled, completely awestruck for a moment, until she came more into the light. Her face was scrunched and tight, as if she was perpetually eating a sour lemon. The Doctor glanced at the Hatter before he stepped forward, holding his hands up in surrender. The others followed. 

“Your Majesty,” he said. 

“Who are you?!” she snapped, her voice shrill. “Did you break my statue? ‘Twas a gift, from my dear late husband. I had him stuffed so he would be with me always. See?” 

A guard next to her pulled out a taxidermied man, whose face was screaming. He was small compared to the Queen and Rose looked away. The Hatter giggled and Lewis’ mouth fell open, thinking that even though the Hatter had told him this woman was a bit mad, he wasn’t expecting...this. The Doctor raised a brow. 

“Looks, erm, well done,” he offered, trying to play his cards right. 

The irony of that phrase was not lost either. 

“Thank you,” she said coldly, shooing the figure of her husband away with a wave of her hand. The Hatter just made a noise. 

“There’s something ‘off’ with her head,” he said with jitters. “She’s not all there...but then again, neither am I! And neither are you!” 

He began to turn his finger in a circle and laugh maniacally, and the Queen shouted at him, which only made him laugh harder. 

“Is this the company you keep? This madman?” she scolded. 

“Oh, Your Highness, we both know I’m not mad,” the Hatter said. “Not compared to you. My reality is just different.” 

“Who are you?” the Queen said again, much colder than before, glaring at the Doctor. He pulled out psychic paper, unsure if it would work on this planet and showed it to her. She pulled small moon spectacles out from around her neck and stepped forward a bit to study it, pursing her lips even further as she looked between the paper and the Doctor. 

“Whatever am I supposed to do with that? It’s blank,” she said, and the Doctor sighed. Rose stepped forward, her instincts kicking in. 

“Hello, Your Excellence,” she said, trying to sound more posh than usual. “Apologies. My name is Rose. That’s the Doctor, my husband. He must have grabbed the wrong...wallet this morning. We’re not sure what happened to your statue, but -” 

“You talk entirely too much,” she said, staring at Rose. “Learn to use less words.” 

Rose raised her eyebrow at her and glared, “Oh, really? Well, I have one word I could -” 

“Right, then!” the Doctor said loudly with a grin, grabbing Rose’s waist and pulling her to him, amused. The guards were staring them all down and he sighed, knowing the only way out of this was through. “You’re going to arrest us now, aren’t you?” 

“Indeed,” the Queen said, and Lewis looked mortified. He’d never come across violence in Wonderland before. 

“Play along,” the Doctor muttered in his ear, winking, and they all watched as the Queen waved her hand again and all the guards stepped forward, filling in all around them, leading them forward. 

“Tick tock,” the Hatter kept saying over and over, and Rose glanced back at the words on the wall as they walked up the stairs. Lewis was watching the Queen, who was walking with her nose in the air, and the Doctor looked at him, realizing that as scared as he might be, he was taking notes in his mad and brilliant head for when he got back to his stories. 

“Are you going to cut off our heads?” the Doctor asked, and the Queen stopped moving, turning to stare at him with large eyes.

“Why would I do that? I imagine one needs their head,” she said. “You trespassed and I will figure out what to do with you, but it shan’t be that.” 

“Really?” Rose asked, and the Queen stared at her. 

“Better. With the words,” she said, turning to walk forward, and Rose’s face tightened, making the Doctor laugh. 

“Sorry,” he whispered, and she just rolled her eyes. 

The dungeon was cold and dreary when the guards opened it, shoving them all inside one cell. Lewis was still making mental notes, but was also starting to tremble a little. Rose and the Doctor were entirely unaffected, and the Hatter was giggling, telling himself jokes in the corner of the cell as the guard locked the door. 

He locked eyes with the Doctor, who leaned forward and placed his elbows on the metal poles. “What is she doing with the hedges?” 

“Prisoners are to be seen and not heard,” the guard replied, and the Doctor made a face. 

“Ohhhh, come on, I know you want to tell me,” he said, his voice almost dripping with cheerfulness, as if he was talking to a dog. Rose bit her lip, and the guard stared at him. Rose saw him pull out his sonic screwdriver, tucking it into his sleeve for a moment, and the guard just began to walk away. “See...we have a bit of a problem. My friend here, his friends are a little...well...not themselves, and so we came to figure out what’s wrong. And I have a sneaking suspicion you might know what it is, and that the Queen is behind it.” 

The guard opened his mouth but the Doctor held up his finger, showing the Hatter and Lewis just how well ‘making it up as they go along’ tends to work. 

“But I also have a bit of advice. If you’re going to lock up four strangers, three of which are from a world that is not like this one….Check their pockets first.” 

He immediately shocked the guard with an electrical pulsation, same as before, just as Rose unlocked the door with her sonic screwdriver, and the guard collapsed onto the ground. Rose pulled the door back and let the Hatter and Lewis out before the Doctor grabbed the guard and pulled him inside, and locked him in. He kept his sonic screwdriver in his hand as he looked up at the door that led them here. 

“That was…” Lewis began to say, but the Hatter just smiled, wider than ever before. 

“Madman with a box,” he said, and the Doctor just winked at him. 

Rose began to walk up the stairs, and she cracked the door open, trying to get a sense of what they were dealing with. “There’s two more out here. I don’t want to keep shocking people.” 

“Oh hoo!” the Hatter said, remembering something, and he ran to Rose, holding a vial of something that was around his neck. “Poppy dust! I keep it for the White Rabbit when he comes around. He’s always in such a hurry. Haste makes waste so I never hurry, and I always think a bit of a nap does him good.” 

“How does it work?” Rose asked, and the Hatter just smiled, opening the vial and blowing on it. Rose watched, and the guards began to yawn, then fell asleep. “Brilliant.” 

“Madness and brilliance are one in the same,” he mused, and she opened the door, walking out into the hallway as the Doctor held out his sonic screwdriver. They were all looking for the Queen. 

“Why did you ask her about cutting off your heads?” Lewis asked. “That was quite curious.” 

The Doctor just gave him a look, not wanting to potentially alter a timeline or the stories this man writes, but Lewis just smiled, putting the pieces together and bounced a little. He seemed to be feeling better now that the Hatter was no longer angry with him, and he was, if Rose dared to say it, embracing his own madness just a little. 

They kept going, having to use the Poppy dust twice more until they reached the throne room. They fully expected to find the Queen here, but it was empty, and the Doctor took a deep breath, deducting. 

“We need to go back to the Cipher,” he murmured, and they all retreated, eyes and ears peeled, until they reached the room they were in before, a little surprised there weren’t more guards on their way. The Doctor moved to the stones and traced them with his fingers and he sniffed. He glanced up at the moonlight through the hole they found and stood back, thinking. 

“What is it?” Rose asked. 

“One of these shapes is a doorknob,” he said. “Lunar Cipher’s are usually put in place to disguise an entrance, one you can only find by moonlight. But I don’t know which one. And I choose incorrectly, it’ll lock us out.” 

Rose looked at it, and she just shrugged. “Make a wild guess. M.” 

“Yeah?” he asked, and Rose nodded. He briefly remembered the last puzzle they made a wild guess on and how well her Instincts guided them, and he pushed down on the stone, smiling when he heard a click and he looked back at his wife, who just bit her lip. “After you.” 

The remaining letters were attached to the hidden stone door and Rose walked forward, finding herself in a tunnel that wrapped around the castle. Lewis thought it smelled like dank and sad, and the Hatter was uncharacteristically quiet, especially when they could suddenly hear a woman’s voice talking to itself, and they saw another door. The Doctor stepped forward, opening it slowly, revealing what they could only describe as a hidden lair. 

The Queen was standing in the middle of the room. The floor was still black and white checkers, but there was a large window that wrapped around it entirely, almost as if they were in a snowglobe, though the roof was still stone. There was an elaborate red orb resting on a gold stand and the Queen was staring at it, holding a small jar in her hand. 

“Stop,” the Doctor said, startling the Queen, who nearly dropped the jar as she jumped. She stared at them. 

“OUT!” she shouted, her face growing bright red almost instantly, and she charged at them, but Rose knocked her back with a flash of light. 

“That enough words for you?” she snapped, and the Queen coughed a little, the impact knocking the wind out of her. 

“What was that?” she asked. “You...how did you…” 

“The hedges,” the Doctor said. “What are you doing with them?” 

She looked over at the Hatter and stood, a rage starting to peek through. 

“You did this,” she said. “You’re coming back to finish what you started? What I do in my Kingdom is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!” 

“Hot-headed, brilliant,” Lewis said, and Rose looked at him, smirking. He just smiled. 

“Tick tock, tick tock,” the Hatter said, and the Queen let out a shrill shriek, breaking the jar she had been holding. 

“What’s this do?” the Doctor asked, moving toward the orb. He scanned it and Rose moved to the Queen, holding her back as the Doctor took in as much information as he could, and he glanced up, his eyebrow raised. “You’re...what are you doing? What is this?” 

“How dare you!” the Queen shouted, and the Doctor just watched with a bored expression as she got angrier and angrier, but she eventually pulled herself out of Rose’s grasp and stormed to the window, pulling down on a lever. 

“What did you just do?” the Doctor asked, and the Queen was livid. He was more curious than anything and he ran to the window and peered down, seeing the hedges moving closer and closer. They were on the first floor of the castle, and he looked at the orb then at the lever, deducted. “Move!” 

He pushed the Queen to the side who was cackling, and Lewis just watched, thinking this was a whole new Wonderland, and he was starting to feel frightened again. He wasn’t completely bonkers, not yet, and he knew this was….bad. Whatever this was. 

“We have to go,” he said, pulling on the Hatter’s arm, but the Hatter flipped upside down, standing on his head. 

“This is the way I see right-side up,” he pondered, and Rose locked eyes with Lewis. 

“Lewis?” she said, “Close your eyes.” 

The Doctor heard her say these words, and he jumped to the side just as Rose moved to hit the lever with her light, but the Queen knocked her back first, and the light hit the window, shattering it. 

A gust of wind knocked everyone back and the hedges were suddenly in the room. Lewis was frozen, and the Hatter’s smile was gone. He was glaring at the Queen who was still laughing, and the Doctor looked at Rose. 

_Get out of here._

_We’re not doing this right now._

_Rose, get our daughter out of here!_

She heard the panic in his voice and she took a deep breath, moving to Lewis and the Hatter. She was about to push them out the door when the Queen was behind her and grabbed her arm, and the Doctor shouted. 

“LET HER GO,” he said, but the Queen just stared and walked back to the lever, flipping it off. 

The hedges stayed where they were. 

“You want to know what I’m doing with these bushes, Doctor?” she asked. “Let’s add another rose and find out.” 

She pushed Rose in, and the Doctor felt an anger he couldn’t even begin to understand. He may have been speaking, he wasn’t sure. If he was, it was definitely threats directed at the Queen, but his brain was a mush of fear as he watched Rose get spit back out by the hedge, rolling on the ground. 

He ran to her. 

The orb, the Hatter noticed, began to glow, and the Queen walked to it, grabbing a jar and scooping the light into it. 

“You’re bottling something?” Lewis asked. 

“Rose?” the Doctor whispered. She was unconscious, but he could feel the dull muted hum in his head that is there when she’s asleep, so he knew her brain was okay. He quickly scanned her, confirming vitals were fine and confirming the baby was unharmed, and he kissed her forehead as he laid her back down on the ground and then stood, yanking the jar from the Queen. “What did you do to her?” 

“How fine you look dressed in rage, Doctor,” the Queen commented. “Suits you.” 

“Oh,” the Doctor said, “You are about to find out just how angry I can get. And trust me, that is not a man you want to meet. What did you do to my wife?” 

“Bottled her personality,” the Queen said. “This Kingdom operates strictly by madness, but none are mad enough to try and cross me. Those who are will be punished. Destined to walk this land with a clear head. Quite painful, I’m sure.” 

“What do you mean you bottled her personality?” the Doctor asked, seconds away from hurting something or someone, whichever got in his way first. 

“All of us are mad, Doctor, otherwise this Kingdom wouldn’t let you in,” she said. “I’ve made it so she is no longer mad. Punishment.” 

The Doctor looked down at Rose, feeling his hearts beating rapidly in his chest as he looked back at the Queen. “No.” 

“No?” the Queen asked. The Doctor just nodded. 

“She’s much too clever,” he said. “I don’t know what you have in that jar, but it’s not Rose.” 

“Just wait until she wakes up,” the Queen said, and the Doctor just sniffed. 

“It didn’t work on Hatter,” he said. “Won’t work on her.” 

“The Hatter was an anomaly,” the Queen hissed, glaring at him, and the Hatter just smiled. 

“If madness is what you’re after, Your Highness, your problem is simple. I keep telling you, I am not mad. Compared to you, I see everything quite clearly. ‘Madness’ is in the eye of the beholder,” he sang, and Rose began to stir. The Doctor ran to her, cradling her in his arms as she opened her eyes, and the moment hazel galaxies met chocolate there was an immediate recognition, and he smiled. 

“Hello,” he whispered. 

“Hello,” she replied, and she sat up and pulled him into a hug. He held her, letting out a shaky breath, and the Queen stared for a moment, quite upset. Rose pulled away and kissed the Doctor, who kissed her back and brushed his hand over her belly and she winked at him. She stood, staring at the Queen. “You and I are going to have a chat.” 

“How did you do that?” she asked, and the Doctor watched Rose cross to the Queen, her own storm brewing. 

She sounded like him. 

“I am much, much smarter than you,” she said. “I’m also pregnant. In case you couldn’t tell, which means you made a very big mistake...Because now I’ve seen how you’re doing all of this, and I am going to stop it. I'm going to make it so you are just a sour face sitting on a throne that no one cares about, lonely and forgotten. I know the only reason you even set up this whole plot in the first place was because you wanted the attention...Isn’t it?”

The Queen stared at her, and Rose stepped closer, barely speaking above a whisper, and the Doctor realized he was watching what he could only describe as Mama Wolf. 

He’ll work on the name.

“Nobody threatens my daughter.” 

Sparks began to fly out of the orb on the stand, and the Doctor, who had been so enamoured watching his wife, realized she had been scanning it with her sonic screwdriver that entire time, which only made him love her more. The Queen screamed and he ran to the lever, sonicing it and undoing the rotation of whatever defense system she had in place and flipped it, watching as all the hedges began to move backwards into the maze outside. He looked over at Lewis and the Hatter, who were both watching Rose as she grabbed the jar that the Queen had used to scoop what she thought was her personality into, and smashed it. 

She then flashed a beam at the lever near the Doctor, severing it. 

“So long,” Rose said, adding one last cherry on top and knocking the orb off the stand. As it crashed to the ground, the Doctor grabbed her hand and they both looked at the Queen who suddenly was so angry, she said four words that made Rose wish she had placed a bet with her husband. 

“OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!” 

“Run!’ the Doctor shouted, and they all sprinted out of the room, back down the corridor and out the door that was the cipher. He smiled at Rose, who just started laughing, and they kept running, eventually passing the guards that had been affected by the Poppy dust. They could still hear the Queen screaming and the guards who had been patrolling or looking at the broken statue burst through the doors and all four of them skidded to a halt. “Sorry! Wrong way!” 

He tugged on Rose’s hand as they ran back the other direction, and the Hatter was elated. Lewis was simply impressed, still processing, and they found themselves in the study the Doctor had first crawled through, letting them all go first so he could sonic it shut on his way out, and they ran. 

Lewis was not used to so much cardio and he let out a cry of pain, forcing the Doctor to let go of Rose’s hand so he could pull him along. They were in the maze, but the hedges were just hedges, and they stayed in place as Rose took the lead, running back toward the entrance. Guards were chasing after them, and the Hatter looked over his shoulder, giggling, as they reached the heart shaped arch and ran back up the hill, stopping when they were out of sight to catch their breath. 

They all burst into laughter. 

“Oh, my God…” Rose said, clutching her side. The Doctor pulled her to him, holding her close and kissing her head, and the Hatter just laid on the grass, letting out a breath. 

“You were brilliant,” he whispered. “Are you alright?”

Rose flashed him his favorite smile, kissing him, “Are you?” 

“Oh, yes,” he said, winking. “Our girl?” 

“Just fine,” she said, and they smiled like idiots at each other before they turned to their companions for the day, who were still laughing a little. “You two alright?” 

“You’re….amazing,” Lewis said. “Both of you. Absolutely _wonderful._ ” 

The Doctor just grinned and the Hatter jumped up, his eyes wide. “How did she do it?” 

“Oh,” Rose said. “Not entirely sure. The technology here isn’t like where I come from. But she was doing something with the sentience of the hedges, controlling them. The lever seemed to activate it, and inside...There was just darkness for a moment. I felt something try to access my mind, but I stopped it. Sent her a decoy memory for whatever that orb did.” 

“I love you,” the Doctor whispered, so utterly impressed and entirely not surprised, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. 

“I love you, too,” she murmured. “I felt her loneliness, though...in the leaves…” 

“Well, that’s her fault,” the Hatter said, another moment where he sounded almost normal. “Our friends?” 

“Let’s go see,” Rose said, biting her lip. “I think everything should be okay, once that orb broke.” 

“Thank you,” Lewis said seriously, and Rose hugged him. He stood there motionless, as hugging was not a custom he was exactly used to, before he wrapped a tentative arm around her. 

“Come on. I’m hungry, sore, and tired. And I have to pee,” Rose said with a wink, and the Doctor had to take a deep breath. She was, quite literally, his entire universe, and she just kept reminding him of that today. 

Strong and brave. Witty and fearless. Sexy, full of faith and hope and compassion...

His wife. The mother of his child. 

“Doctor?” she asked, turning to him, and he just smiled. 

“Sorry,” he said. “Just…” 

Her tongue found the corner of her mouth, realizing he was having a moment where he was processing that any of this was possible and she held out her hand, wiggling it in the enticing way she does. He took it and kissed it, squeezing it as they moved back through the forest, ready to check that everyone in Wonderland was as mad as ever.


	7. Mad In Some Way

It was growing exceedingly difficult to stay awake as they reached the Impossible Woods, but Rose was doing her best. The Doctor just wanted to make sure everyone was alright and get out, back to the TARDIS so she could rest and eat and he could run a few tests just to make sure everything was alright, but Lewis was wide awake, chatting with the Hatter like old chums, laughing and bantering in riddles, and Rose smiled. 

“I’m glad he’s feeling better,” she murmured, and the Doctor nodded, squeezing her hand. 

“The twins should be around here somewhere,” he said. More creatures from before came out to say hello, along with a few new ones. Rose found it all lovely, and her hand rested on her still fairly small belly as she looked around, and they all stopped when they saw two eggs jumping together around a small mushroom, singing. 

“Dee-Da-Dee-Da-Dee!” they chanted, and the Doctor shared a glance with Lewis. 

“Jim and John?” he asked, but the twins just looked at him. 

“I’m TweedleDee,” one said. 

“And I’m TweedleDum!” the other added, and they both laughed. 

“How do ya do, ya do, ya do, do, do?” they said simultaneously, and Rose smiled. Lewis took a deep breath and kneeled down, and he hugged them. He found them dreadfully dull, but he loved them, and they hummed a little and each wrapped an arm around him. 

“It’s good to see you idiots,” he whispered, and they just looked at each other, and then started to sing some more songs. The Hatter was jumping off a mushroom nearby like it was a trampoline, and Lewis stood, smiling, and he looked over at Rose, who was blinking away sleep. “Are you tired?” 

“Don’t worry about me,” she said, and the Doctor just looked at Lewis. 

“She is,” he said softly, and Rose sighed. Lewis nodded and watched as TweedleDee and TweedleDum waved and sang their way further into the woods and he called for Hatter to follow them, ready to check on the Cat. 

“You can go home, if you’d like, Hatter and I can -” Lewis said, but Rose flashed him a brilliant, though tired, smile, and he was dazzled by it. The Doctor looked down at his feet, not feeling jealous but definitely recognizing the look in Lewis’ eye, and he squeezed his wife’s hand. 

“Nah, we’ll stay,” Rose said. 

“You sure?” Lewis asked, and Rose just nodded. 

“We have to finish what we started,” she whispered, and her eyes locked with the Doctor’s for a moment, whose throat felt a little tight. 

A daughter. 

They found the Cat in his tree, his tail tangling over the branch. When he saw the Hatter and Lewis approach, a wide, crescent shaped smile sprang into action, and rows of teeth shone for miles. Rose kissed the Doctor’s shoulder as the Cat waved hello, and she watched as he sat up straighter in the tree and looked around. 

“How strange everything is today!” he said, thoughtfully. “Only a few recognize the way.” 

“Which way?” Lewis asked, and the Cat just smiled even wider. 

“Depends on where you want to go,” he said. “Every adventure requires a first step.” 

“Quite right,” the Doctor said, and the Cat just purred. 

“You have changed, Doctor,” he said. 

“Have I?” he asked, and the Cat just tilted its head. 

“I don’t mean your face, though that has changed too...It appears you know what path you’re on. You did not before,” he said. “Somehow, before...you strayed and lost your way.” 

“Someone found me,” he said, looking at Rose. “Bit of a lost soul.” 

“Love, of course,” the Cat said. “Love makes madness in us all. But it ground us, too.” 

“Well,” the Doctor said, sniffing. “I once said love was never noted for its rationality.” 

“Indeed,” the Cat said, smiling even wider. “Thank you for helping me.” 

Rose nodded, too tired to really speak, and the Doctor gave the Cat a small wave. Lewis and the Cat bantered for a moment, and the Hatter was still with them, too attached to the journey now to leave without saying goodbye. The sun was starting to peek over the horizon, creating a brilliant swirl of different purple hues, and they kept walking. Rose just stayed silent, not even able to reflect on everything that happened, her entire focus was on staying awake and putting one foot in front of the other, and the Doctor held her up, letting her lean on him entirely as they slowly approached the Vortex Veil. 

“Right,” the Doctor said, turning to look at Lewis and the Hatter. “This was fun.” 

The Hatter giggled and bounced a little, and Lewis just looked at them, feeling a thousand emotions he couldn’t begin to decipher. 

“I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you,” he said. The Doctor just smiled. 

“Write your stories,” he said. “Make them good.” 

“Full of madness?” Lewis asked, and the Doctor nodded. 

“Of course,” he hummed. “Anyone remotely interesting is mad in some way or another. Embracing it is in all of our best interest.” 

They all laughed. 

“It was nice to meet you, both of you,” Rose said, trying not to yawn, and Lewis smiled at her. 

“And you,” he said. “Wait! I know! I’ll call a character after your daughter. What is her name?” 

The Doctor felt like he’d been splashed with cold water. 

They hadn’t talked about names, but the question lingered the air as Lewis waited for one of them to say something. In reality, only a second or two had passed but it felt much longer to the Doctor, who looked at Rose and felt his stomach fill with butterflies. She stared at him, trying to wrap her head around the question, but she already knew the answer. 

The Doctor did, too. 

It was a name Rose was going to recommend. A name she had thought about for over a year, way before she was pregnant. A name that might have come up in a natural conversation at that science fair in the 23rd century, but now, as she watched Lewis smile, as she felt her husband’s hand gripping hers, she felt her heart pound. 

In some strange, timey wimey way, her daughter’s name had been etched into history her entire life. Her mother used to read it to her when she was child, and her mother to her...

She changed the world, and she wasn’t even born yet. 

They could practically hear her howling. 

“Alice,” the Doctor said, clearing his throat. “Her name is Alice.” 

“Alice...Alice in Wonderland. I like it,” Lewis said. “A little blonde girl like her mother. Who finds a world of madness.” Neither Rose nor the Doctor said anything, and Lewis just smiled. “You two go on. I’m going to spend some time with my friends.” 

The Doctor couldn’t speak. His throat was painfully swollen and Rose just smiled and waved goodbye, and they leaned on each other as they walked back through the Vortex Veil, finding themselves in Lewis’ small tent, and they looked at each other. 

She pulled him into a hug, both not in a place where they could say words, and he held her so tightly it was a little hard to breathe. He was holding tears back, and Rose just wrapped her hands in his hair, sending him love in her mind. He pulled away and let out a shaky breath, and he sniffed, looking back at the mirror. 

She squeezed his hand as they walked back to the TARDIS, ignoring the crappy carnival and stepping aboard. The Doctor kissed Rose’s head, letting his lips stay there for a moment and letting sweet honey fill his lungs, and she watched him as he sent them to the Vortex, and he smiled at her. 

“Go to sleep, baby,” he said, and she smiled back. 

“I still like that,” she murmured, and he pulled her to him, kissing her, his hand cupping her cheek. 

“I like you,” he whispered. 

“Yeah, I’m rather fond of you, too,” she teased, and he chuckled. “Will you come with me?” 

“Of course,” he said. “I also want to run some tests, but they can wait. Pretty sure you’re fine, I just...” 

“Okay,” she said, yawning. “Only if we have a big breakfast. Lots of waffles. Some bacon. Orange juice. Pears.” 

“No,” he said seriously, and she laughed, kissing him again. He smiled against the kiss, and she pulled back, tracing her eyes over his face. “Course we can.” 

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Are you alright?” 

He nodded, but his throat felt tight again, and he just brushed his hand on her belly, leaning in to kiss her again. “I can’t...I don’t have words right now. About any of it.” 

“Me either,” Rose admitted. “Come on. Fluffy pillows await.” 

He looked at her lovingly as they made their way back to their bedroom, but he stopped when they passed the library, looking at the box of gears and the open clock on the floor, and he let out another shaky breath.

“Doctor?” Rose said, turning to look at him. 

“I’m coming,” he said, and he tapped his fingers on the doorframe for a moment, entirely happy and entirely overwhelmed, and he held Rose close as they both finally rested. 

He dreamt of orange sunsets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! A LOT of the quotes the Hatter said are actually things the Chesire Cat says, but seeing as it's all meant to be an adventure that inspires the stories we know, it works for me. Next one will be out soon :)


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